Discussions and Controversies on The Topic of Slavery

Colored people, also known as slaves, who must work for other people. In the 1850s the most argumentative topics was slavery. Slavery opened many debates, discussions and arguments. It was the growing differences in philosophies by the North and South that made the issue and cause of the Civil War. They were treated like they were nothing. Like they were creatures, slavery has had an impact on America for years During this decade many compromises were proposed to avoid war, but all were unsuccessful and made either the North or South more willing to fight.

Slavery was the main reason for the start of the Civil War with events that happened due to slavery. Slavery in the United States was inhumane and immoral and needed to be ended unconditionally.

The union wanted slavery to be illegal through the whole entire country, but the south argued without slavery the country would not be making money. Therefor slavery was a necessity for the whole country to be successful.

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This compromise solved many problems, but it was until only a matter of time when it started to fail, and a war became closer in sight. African Americans were always treated like animals by the whites. It was as though they didn’t even consider them people. By the 1800s, Blacks were getting sick and tired of how they were treated and decided it was time to make a change. So, in the early years of the 19th century, Blacks created an organized antislavery movement.

Unfortunately, this movement didn’t exactly last long, and it wasn’t very effective either.

This impact caused rage and hurt, slaves put their blood, sweat and tears in their work to not get beaten or get their children harmed as well. Separated by race they lived with no Justice, Freedom, or Diversity. They lived a very risky life, trying their best not to get caught. Some slaves will never be forgotten, for what they did to try and get us freedom in the U.S or the world. But after 1830, a new leading figure emerged, and his name was William Lloyd Garrison. He began an abolitionist movement that really changed the nation. William Lloyd Garrison was born on December 12, 1805. Garrison grew up in Newburyport, Massachusetts. Garrison tried to make people realize that first slavery must be eradicated and second that after slavery is over blacks must be accepted into society as equals.

According to Garrison, slaves are sold like goods: “my wife is to be sold from me,” “like a sheep in the market” . “The radical and uncompromising Garrisonians remained influential”. They appealed to the conscience of the slaveholders; and when that produced no results, they turned to political action, seeking to induce the northern states and the federal government to aid the cause. They joined the Garrisonians in helping runaway slaves find refuge in the North or in Canada through the underground railroad. Books were a way for people to connect with characters, Uncle Tom's Cabin did this. Harriet Beecher Stowe was born in 1811 in Litchfield, Connecticut. Harriet was an extremely devout Christian who truly lived out her faith. Her writings were strongly impacted by the Christian faith as they were focused on the doctrines of sin, salvation, guilt and portraying what it meant to be a ‘good’ Christian.

“Stowe’s critique of slavery is based on her belief in the importance of domestic values and family security. Slavery’s violation of those values, and its denial of that security, is what made it so abhorrent to her”. This depiction enraged many Northerners who were unaware of the horrible treatment slaves endured daily. Stowe based her depiction off runaway slaves who ran to the North and told their story as a slave. Runaway slaves were another inevitable aspect of the Civil War. Slaves were punished very often. Slaves had to suffer because of their owners, if they were caught running away they were punished cruelly and sometimes even killed. For example, “He put out his heavy, dirty hand, and drew the girl towards him; passed it over her neck, and bust, felt her arms, looked at her teeth, then pushed her back against her mother” (Stowe). Some slaves lived with the worst condition ever. They were imprisoned, were controlled by cruel masters.

The South, contradictorily to the North, believed that the future of the nation depended on slavery. After all, slavery had been the backbone of the nation’s economy since the beginning. The South needed slavery for it’s livelihood, and since the original sin did not rest upon their heads but upon the heads of their forefathers then it should be allowed to continue since the institution was already in place and it was essential to life. George Fitzhugh, an American social theorist, addresses that the capable men do not work more than what is considered fair and appropriate time is given off during holidays. He concludes the overall existence for the southern slaves is pleasant and they are freer than most men; “The [African-American] slaves of the South are the happiest, and, in some sense, the freest people in the world,”.

As well as being justified by religion, Slavery used religion as a tool to keep African Americans subordinate. Pro-slavery advocates argued that Christianity appeals to slaves because it fosters hope to both the slave and the master. Pro-slavery supporters argued that the bible supports the obedience of slaves. Southerners also attacked Northerners on grounds of hypocrisy. Southerners argued that slavery or personal servitude guaranteed the very freedom and liberty that the North enjoyed. The South regarded the northern system of labor with contempt. “he free laborer must work or starve”. They believed that the industrial North exploited the worker and, furthermore, and perhaps the greater evil, neglected to ground the worker in a Christian society.

“Christian slave-holder at the South is the best friend of the negro” (Spectator). However, they are extremely racism “free white laborers might live in comfort and luxury on light work” (Fitzhugh). Besides, according to Mr. Beecher “the free colored people at the North ‘are almost without education, with but little sympathy for ignorance’” (The Spectator). In different place, people have their own qualities about “slave” “Their care of the children, even if it be slave labor, is certainly equal to that which is free.” Some slaves can have earned money by themselves and bought freedom, but some were set free by their masters “Some slaves were set free by a master who had moral qualms about slavery, or by a master’s will after his death—for example, the more than 400 slaves belonging to John Randolph of Roanoke, freed in 1833”.